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The History of Literature #164 – Karl Marx

Karl Marx (1818-1883) turned his early interest in literature and philosophy into a lifelong study of the socioeconomic forces unleashed by the rise of capitalism. His works The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, among others, influenced the course of the twentieth century like few others. But who was Karl Marx? How did his ideas become so widespread? And how did his thinking and writing impact literature? We’ll talk about Karl Marx and Marxist Literary Theory with Mike Palindrome, the President of the Literature Supporters Club, who has spent more than twenty years reading literary theory as an amateur enthusiast.

Mike’s recommendations:

“Ideological and Ideological State Apparatuses” by Louis Althusser

Mythologies by Roland Barthes

Debt: The First 5,000 Years by Daniel Graeber

The Political Unconscious by Fredric Jameson

Utopia or Bust by Benjamin Kunkel

The Year of Dreaming Dangerously by Slavoj Zizek

What is to be Done? by Vladimir Lenin

Support the show at patreon.com/literature. Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and @literatureSC. Or send an email to jackewilsonauthor@gmail.com.